It seems since the last update in October 2013 the FDA has receive almost 1,800 more reports of sickness
or death as it pertains to the Jerky treats that come from China. According to the report since May 1, 2014 they have received more than 4,800
complaints. In total there have been more than 5,600 dogs, 24 cats, and 3 people affected by these
treats of which caused more than a thousand deaths of canines.
What is in these treats that cause illness is yet to be determined
but the symptoms of reports consist of at least 60% of gastrointestinal/liver disease,
30 percent are kidney or urinary disease and the remaining 10 percent are various from neurologic to immunologic
symptoms as well as dermatologic.
Nearly 15 % of these animals tested positive for Fanconi syndrome
which is a rare kidney disease. To read
about Fanconi syndrome click here
Veterinarians continue to send in letters of deaths reported
to be from any of the possible diseases above and has given the FDA the opportunity
to perform necropsies on at least 26 dogs. Half of which were not related to the
consumption of pet jerky treats and half of the 26 were not able to be ruled out as the
possibility of jerky treats being involved.
The FDA has partnered up with the Center for Disease Control
which tracks human illness and is asking their expertise in collaborating on case
studies of sick dogs.
Studies are still ongoing and will be made public when results
are completed.
Studies in 2012 showed that there were low levels of antibiotics in the tested jerky treats. Testing was done by the New York State Department of Markets and
Agriculture (NYSDAM). Testing of the China treats also showed the presence
of the drug Amantadine (an antiviral drug for humans) in some of the chicken
treat samples. This drug was used as an extra
label drug for dogs for pain control but the FDA began to prohibit its use in chickens back in 2006. However it is not believed to be a cause in illness or
death of the pets.
To see use of the drug Amantadine dogs click here
The FDA continues to caution pet owners regarding giving these
treats. If you have given your pet any of these treats and illness/death occurred please
contact your veterinarian as well as report it to the FDA as each report is very
valuable to the investigation.
I'm giving a 4 paws up to the FDA for continuing this investigation and keeping the public informed!
Update 5/24/ 14 I just saw on the news the other day that PetSmart will be removing all China made jerky treats from their shelves by March 2015. I am not familiar with the process of pulling something from a chain store so forgive my ignorance , by why wait to complete this after a year? Why not just pull them off now so there are none left on the shelves for people to buy? I have to wonder where the jerky treats from China that they sell today will be?
PetCo however is pulling the treats and they hope to have them trashed by the end of the year.
Where's the problem here? Why can't you just take them off the shelves and dump them in the garbage or send them back to China for a refund? Though I can understand it may take time for China to refund them their money I don't understand why American Consumers have to wait six months or more for them to be completely off the shelves. I am a fairly trusting person, but I think they may still be trying to make a profit off of them. If it were a major Human Health concern (which secondary it is ) the product would be off the shelf that day of recall.
